Elvis is obviously an exceptional talent. He and his previous team had done a lot of great work but when we started to work together 12 months ago, we took a more collaborative approach.

One key area that we wanted to address as a team was his relationship with the ground and building a solid foundation.

Part of that was coaching – his awareness of the ground and how you use it. How his body relates to that ground and how his body relates to the different segments of the golf swing.

That entailed work with physiotherapist Marty McInnes and strength and conditioning coach Luke Mackey because previously Elvis had some instability through the swing and associated pain.

To achieve that we needed a single message being fed through each person and to be quite assertive in what was required.

Elvis responded really well to that and trusted in what we were telling him. That transferred to some really good results at the start of the summer and wins at the WA Open and Australian PGA Championship.

He is now hitting at 17 miles an hour faster and his body is healthier.

Yes, that has something to do with coaching, but it is more to do with the collaborative nature of his entire team in working towards a single outcome.

Based at Royal Fremantle Golf Club, Ritchie Smith was named the 2024 PGA National Coach of the Year – High Performance, the third time he has won that award. Ritchie’s athletes include Hannah Green, Minjee Lee, Min Woo Lee and Elvis Smylie.